


Hearts of Ink

by Sincerely_Sierra



Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Coven
Genre: F/F, Inspired by Real Events, Love, Tattoos, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 13:23:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17224847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sincerely_Sierra/pseuds/Sincerely_Sierra
Summary: Zoe decides to do something that shocks everyone: she gets her first tattoo and surprises Madison with it.





	Hearts of Ink

**Author's Note:**

> Well, hello! This is something a bit different than I usually write, but it's still cute and it's still Zoe/Madison! Zoe steps out of her comfort zone and it's the first time I've attempted to write something about it. 
> 
> I tagged this "Inspired by Real Events" because it is. The tattoo Zoe will get is the one I actually have, for the same reason and in the same place. Yes, this is quite self-fulfilling and I'm telling my own personal experience of my tattoo through Zoe. Enjoy!  
> \--Sincerely, Sierra

Zoe has to admit that she not once understood the craving behind tattoos. Why would some pay money to scar their skin with something they could regret later in life as their opinions and desires fade and change? A little ridiculous, if you were to ask her a few years ago.

Now? She is twenty years old and plenty old enough for a tattoo. Legally, of course. With Cordelia? Not so much. The older woman questions why someone like Zoe would even consider inking her skin. When the young witch first arrived at the Academy three years ago, she was so quiet and reserved. It caught Cordelia off guard yesterday when Zoe pointed to a tattoo on her phone and said she wanted it.

This is a big commitment for Zoe. Hell, it's hard enough for her to decide on which of her black and white outfits she wants to wear for the day. It's hard to decide if she wants to fuck Madison silly or go to sleep. It's hard to decide which toothpaste is the best. In short, the girl is so indecisive that Cordelia worries about her regretting that permanent mark forever.

Nevertheless, Zoe is capable of making her own decisions and living with the outcome of them. So Cordelia lets her go on a Friday when there are no lessons left. As Zoe is getting ready to leave with the tattoo saved on her phone, Cordelia stops her.

"Are you coming to talk me out of this?" Zoe asks. "I can make my own choices, Cordelia. I know what I'm doing this time. Not like when I got impaled. Madison and I haven't played tag since."

"No, I'm not trying to talk you out of it. I'm only wondering. What's the real reason you want this particular tattoo?" Cordelia asks.

As if this is any of her business. Regardless, Zoe replies, because she knows Cordelia can't help herself and there is no need to be rude for a curiosity, especially to someone as welcoming as Cordelia.

"I like it. It's pretty and it has a meaning behind it," Zoe says. "It's my own meaning."

"Which is?"

Fixing her long hair over her shoulder, Zoe grins up at her leader. "I want Madison to know first."

Oh, boy. Madison. This is not going in a good direction, but Cordelia is not this girl's mother, and even if she were, it wouldn't matter. Baby bird has to start learning to take flight and this is one of the many trials.

When Cordelia can't formulate a good response, Zoe pockets her debit card and her phone and leaves with a simple wave, leaving the woman baffled and contemplating what the hell Madison has to do with all this mess if she doesn't even know.

Shaking her head to clear the thought, Cordelia goes to find her spell book and take her mind off things so she doesn't drive herself mad wondering what the secret meaning is behind that admittedly cute tattoo.

+++

The tattoo shop is rather small, but it smells sterile and looks clean and has several great reviews on Google, so she feels comfortable here. There are templates and examples of tattoos all over the walls, and most are cute, but Zoe treasures the one she found searching the web. She came during a weekday afternoon, so she's the only one waiting.

A tattooed guy comes up to her and asks her to show him what she wants on her skin. She shows him and he takes her phone to make a sketch while she provides her ID and fills out a form he gave her. The information requirement is really basic: name, number, birthdate, address. Then she sees the waiver at the very bottom, about age of consent and the risk of infection, should she be allergic to anything or from the use of an accidental unsterile needle. She swallows hard and signs it, thinking of that beautiful ink she wants.

Once the sketch is drawn up, another guy--even more tattooed than the first--comes from the back room and invites her over. The tattooing area is clean and there's faint music playing somewhere.

"So, what's a girl like you doin' wanting a tattoo? No offense or nothing," the tattoo artist says as he takes the sketch that's somehow been transformed into an outline--like a temporary tattoo.

"It reminds me of someone special," Zoe says with a shrug.

"You won't believe how many times I hear that. But every one of them is pleased with them, so I have faith you'll like it. First one?" he asks.

"Yeah." Can he smell the nervousness radiating off her or what?

"Where ya want it?" He comes closer with the little piece of plastic with the tattoo outline.

Silent and fidgety, Zoe pulls the collar of her shirt down and points to her right side, just below her collarbone. It's amazing; the artist sticks the plastic to her skin and retracts it after a few seconds of holding it there, leaving an outline. Again, like it's temporary. Is this an advanced way of tattooing? Does she not have to face needles today?

"Relax. It won't hurt much. It's pretty small," he says and points to a weirdly angled chair.

Carefully, Zoe eases her way onto it and lays all the way back. Her stomach lurches a bit and she closes her eyes to avoid seeing him fiddling with the needle gun. She leaves her shirt unbuttoned at the top so he can reach, although she hates feeling exposed in front of anyone that isn't Madison.

The buzz of the needle gun startles her, but her eyes remain firmly closed. She feels something wet where the outline is. It smells sterile. Before she knows it, there's faint scraping against her sensitive skin. It hurts a little but nothing that would make her tear up.

A few minutes go by and she's beginning to enjoy the slight pain of the needle puncturing her milky skin, in a twisted way. She swears it's not even as painful as a vaccine. That quickly changes when the artist presses harder and she has to squeeze her hand into a fist to distract herself. Still, no tears.

Twenty minutes in, the gun is retracted and Zoe dares to open her eyes. He's putting his supplies away and she tries to look down at her new creation, but she's too far back.

"Not bad for a first time. Usually, my first-timers cry their eyes out," her artist chuckles softly.

The amused guy swipes some ointment over the reddened skin and helps her up so she can look into the mirror mounted on the wall just behind her. Her eyes fall on the newest part of her body that will exist until she's dead and gone.

"Well?" he asks, as if he could change it.

He wouldn't need to, though.

Zoe grins at him and then back at her tattoo. "I love it."

+++

When Zoe returns home, Cordelia is sitting at the kitchen table with her book. She smiles at Zoe, warmly and invitingly.

"Well?" Cordelia asks. "Did you go through with it?"

With yet another grin, Zoe nods. Her shirt is still unbuttoned a little so it doesn't interfere with the plastic she has to leave on her fresh tattoo for a few hours. Cordelia tries to sneak a peek but the girl twists her body, blocking her view.

"Nope. Madison gets to see it first," she says. "After I take this off."

In a friendly way, Cordelia rolls her eyes and returns to her book, trying to memorize a spell in her head. Zoe keeps her collarbone hidden and rushes upstairs to her and Madison's shared bedroom. The blonde is on her bed with her iPod, gently nodding to a beat Zoe can't hear thanks to the earbuds Madison's wearing.

At the sight of her girlfriend's return, Madison removes her earbuds. "Where have you been? You've been gone for, like, an hour. I didn't see you with Cordelia."

Zoe sighs and sits on the bed, bouncing a bit, thanks to the faulty springs. "I was out. Doing something."

Madison goes to ask what she was doing, before she catches sight of the plastic stuck to Zoe's chest.

"What the hell is that?" she asks.

Carefully, Zoe removes the plastic and pulls her shirt down a bit more, revealing the heart with arrows for sides rather than a straight shape, like it's going in a cycle. Her heart thumps wildly as she hopes Madison doesn't flip out on her.

"You--You got a tattoo?" Madison gawks. "No way. It's fake. Right?"

"Nope. All real," Zoe boasts. "I just had it done. Who puts plastic over a temporary tattoo?"

Madison wants to touch it but refrains as to not mess it up. It's fresh and she could ruin the ink or infect Zoe's skin. Still, she gapes. Zoe Benson? A tattoo? It's unbelievable. Her girlfriend would never do something permanent to herself. The girl has trouble picking out shoes, for god sakes!

"But. . .why?" Madison genuinely asks.

"Well, there's a meaning behind it. See, it's a heart, but the sides are arrows going in a constant cycle. When my mom basically threw me out for being a witch, I lost contact with her and eventually the love I needed to feel sort of faded. I was worried I couldn't love again, because she was my mom and my love for her faded. I felt heartless," Zoe explains, eyes watering. "Then I met you and I fell in love. I never stop loving. Not once. If one love fades, it keeps on going for someone else. It's a cycle that never breaks."

 _Well, that's extremely deep_ , Madison thinks.

"I like it. And I love you," Madison says as she places a soft kiss on Zoe's lips.

"You really like it?" Zoe asks, covering up the inked wound with the plastic again.

Nodding, Madison wraps Zoe in her arms and nestles her face into her soft hair. Zoe sighs in content, listening to Madison's strong heartbeat that lulls her to sleep every night when it gets too dark and cold.

"You love me enough that you got a tattoo and it has something to do with me?" Zoe can't see Madison's face, but she can hear the tears rising. Madison's voice always tightens up when she's about to cry.

"Of course I do. I never stop loving. You're the first person I've ever shown love to in three years, Maddie," Zoe says, lacing her fingers with the blonde's slender ones. "You're a part of me and you always will be. No matter what."

They've been together for nearly three years. In Madison's book, that's longer than any relationship she's ever been or attempted to be in. There's something about Zoe that has her hooked, like a drug with no rehab. Not that she would want rehab for Zoe, anyway.

And that's why the thought of the ring box in her dresser drawer seems a little less intimidating.

"Come on," Zoe excitedly says, "I want to show Cordelia. I know she's dying to see it."

Madison allows Zoe to drag her by the hand, and as they go, her thumb strokes over Zoe's bare ring finger, and Madison smiles, knowing that, by the time the moon emerges tonight, it won't be.

**Author's Note:**

> So there it is. Not only is it Zoe's story, it's mine, too. Everything written in this fic is based off my own life. Except the ending. That's something I hope to happen with my girl years in the future. :)


End file.
